Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

Rios: Clinton Blood Clot a Lie Because Her Doctors are Women

If you thought Sandy Rios of the American Family Association had hit bottom in how ridiculous and inane she could be, think again. When she hits bottom, she just starts tunneling. On her radio show last week, she actually claimed that Hillary Clinton’s blood clot was a lie because — get this — her doctors are women with “strong female names.”

She’s out of the hospital, so they say, but did anybody see that yesterday? They saw pictures of her riding in the car, a camera caught her, she looked perfectly happy, laughing. Leaving the hospital but there had been no report that she had left the hospital and then suddenly the State Department issues a statement, ‘oh yes she’s out of the hospital.’ This has been a bizarre story to me. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t one of the skeptics, I am a skeptic, I’m a huge skeptic. Let me just give you the exaggerated claims here. The National Enquirer printed a story saying that Hillary Clinton is having a ‘brain cancer drama.’ And then of course we’ve had detailed reports of this blood clot that supposedly happened as a result of a fall which supposedly happened as a result of a terrible flu which that had caught.

I read an article in the Washington Post just a couple of days ago where her two doctors, and I’m sorry I can do this because I’m a girl, they are both women and they have these very strong female names and I say to myself: you know what, I just, I’m sorry, I just—do you know that the doctors have refused to make statements? They have not been allowed to ask questions, it’s just been statements from the State Department reporting how dreadfully awful, terrible the disease, that Hillary Clinton has is.

I have no idea what the hell a “strong female name” is. And no, you can’t do that because you’re a girl; you can do it because you’re a moron.

This has been a recurring theme in the right wing nuthouse. even supposedly sane people like Charles Krauthammer have claimed that this illness is political to prevent her testimony before Congress about the Libyan embassy attack.

Sounds like she’s a “girl” Rush Limbaugh and that English is not her first language.

I also had no idea that “strong female names” were magical, bestowing upon the recipient the tendency to become in adulthood a “feminazi” who will lie to protect her fellow travelers.
Of course, those people believe in magical beings, some of whom tempt, others who protect and one who will eternally punish people for being human, so one more magical belief is not too surprising.

do you know that the doctors have refused to make statements? They have not been allowed to ask questions, it’s just been statements from the State Department reporting how dreadfully awful, terrible the disease, that Hillary Clinton has is.

This is confused, does she mean the doctors have not been allowed to answer</i questions, in which case may be read up on patient confidentiality, or does she think they did the diagnosis by reading statements from the State Department?

I work for a large health care system and we are regularly reminded about not revealing patient sensitive information (we re-sign an oath to this effect every year). This actually includes not revealing that a given person is even a patient at the facility. It’s not surprising that people associated with a hospital would be reluctant to say anything at all concerning a patient, even if it were technically legal to do so. Pretty much the only person who has the right to say anything about Hillary’s condition is Hillary herself.

Stopping to think isn’t a strong point of them over there. It is a good practice rhetorically (due to lack of critical thinking) to give folks “a place to hang their hat.” Rios needed a hat hook for the assertion of a lie. The detail of what that hat hook is, is less important.

It does make for on-going hilarity, confusion and concern from the folks who can read for meaning.

You people are going about this all wrong. You have to think of “strong female name” from a right-wing moron point of view. I’m sure she meant strongly female, since “strong female” would be an oxymoron to her.

I have no doubt that the Secretary of State was treated by Dr. Babydoll Slutbunny.

@11 Benghazi is this season’s Fast and Furious, the nothing story that Fox is determined to make the rest of us care about. And see, anyone not making a sufficient fuss over it is in on the conspiracy somehow (a conspiracy of what we are never quite told), because there’s no way someone could, like, not give a shit.

Without explicit permission of the patient, any statement by the doctors would appear to be a federal HIPAA violation.

As I(AmNotADoctor) understand, brain clots themselves aren’t necessarily immediately dangerous, any more than arterial plaque. They’re nigh asymptomatic early on. Similarly to arterial plaque, however, the presence is a longer-term problem, as should one grow too large or break off it can block arterial circulation — triggering an ischemic stroke rather than a heart attack. Furthermore, onset from “asymptomatic” to “life threatening” stages can be faster than in cardiac issues.

And with damn good reason, called PATIENT PRIVACY. If Mrs. Clinton wishes to share the details of her recent medical misadventures, she can. But her doctors — ALL doctors — are bound by law to respect the patient’s privacy, which means they CAN NOT make a statement about a patient’s status (particularly to the media) without the patient’s explicit consent.

No, no you’re not. “conspiracy nut” and “skeptic” do not mean the same thing; they are not interchangeable. “Skeptic” is not simply a more respectable way of saying “paranoid nutjob”. What you are is a moron.

If Clinton runs in 2016, it is likely these same people will turn around 180 degrees, and argue the blood clot incident was not only real, but sufficiently serious to raise “concerns” that Clinton is too old (as old as Reagan!) to be president.